


Hope For The Fallen

by phantomthief_fee



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Everyone else is happy, He and Merle can be tired together, I thought John deserved to be saved, So let's give the tired old man a little happiness, spoilers for episode 69
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 20:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11836170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: John gets a second chance.





	Hope For The Fallen

He can’t remember his name. He knows he had one, at some point, but no matter how he tries, he can’t recall it. He can’t recall where he came from, who he is. The only thing he knows for sure is that he is angry. The whispering voices tell him so. All around him they call for vengeance, for satisfaction, for...blood. Suddenly, he finds himself on the deck of a ship, facing three people. A human, an elf, and a dwarf. There’s something so familiar about the dwarf, but he just can’t place it. No, it doesn’t matter. He won’t give it a second thought. Whoever these three are, they need to die. He’s going to destroy them. He roars at them, extending his arm and feeling it turn into a long, wicked blade. His entire form is itching to tear them apart. 

“John! I’ve died sixty-eight times. Sixty-eight! Been there, done that. Do your worst, pal.” The dwarf says. John..Is that him? The name feels right. A memory begins to surface. Him and the dwarf playing chess at a conference table. The voices shriek at that, and the memory quickly dissipates. Now isn’t the time for memories. He has to kill these creatures. The human attacks him with a lance and a sword. He feels nothing when the lance hit, but the slash the sword left burns. If he still possessed blood, venom might have been coursing through his veins. He wonders vaguely where that thought come from. But he pushes the thought away. He focuses all his energy on swiping, slashing, hacking, summoning black fire to burn his enemies. Then he’s swept up in a sphere of lightning cast by the elf. 

And that...That really hurts. But it’s not enough to bring him back to reality. That only comes when the human man stabs his sword into his chest. That hurts more than he could possibly imagine. It’s enough to give him a small moment of clarity. He doesn’t want to be doing this. He doesn’t want to hurt Merle, the one person who’s made his life worth living again. He tries to scream, tries to fight against his body. He screams. He thinks they can see his fear, because Merle’s expression changes ever so slightly. He falls to his knees, desperately struggling against the voices rising up. 

_ “He’s grown weak.”  _

_ “Can’t follow through.” _

_ “No please, don’t make me go back.”  _ He begs.  _ “I can’t go back-” _

Then he’s not in control of himself anymore, pushed back inside the swirling mass. He’s unable to move, but the voices, the Hunger, let him watch as the monstrous thing using his form rises up. For the first time in a long time, John cries. He doesn’t know the other two, but seeing the monster attack Merle, his only friend....It’s more than he can take. Merle goes down first and John screams, anger rising in his chest. But no matter how he fights, he’s held firm in the grip of the Hunger. They make him watch as the other two go down as well. For an instant, he thinks this is the end. The Hunger will kill them and that will be that. He’ll be kept so he can see the destruction of the plane and suffer. Because he cares now. Merle  _ made _ him care. Suddenly, they’re back on their feet. 

For a moment, he thinks it’s an illusion by the Hunger. But it’s not. The three idiots are back on their feet again. And people are coming out of the strange engine on the back of the ship, allies of the fighters. Allies who have the abilities to stop the Hunger. John’s screaming again, but this time it’s out of joy. They’re going to do it! They can really do it! But the Hunger knows their strategy now, and it lashes out against the Bond Machine. John’s screams quickly die. He’s left staring dumbfounded at the smoking machine. 

_ “Where is your hope now,  _ **_John_ ** _?” _ The voices say his voice mockingly.  _ “They will not stop us. We will devour them, just as we devoured all the others.” _

He almost collapses then and there. There’s a tightness in his chest he’s never felt before. Why do emotions have to be so damn troublesome, he wonders. He never felt like this before meeting Merle. It was so much easier not to care about anything. He’s about to submit to his fate when he notices something strange. A thin, white string connecting two of the members of Merle’s party. Then another string forms. And another and another, until the strings have formed a sort of web around them. And then he sees one connecting him to Merle. It’s so thin he thinks it might break if he touches it, but he runs a finger over it anyway. It’s soft and warm. 

“You couldn’t let go, could you?” He whispers. Even as he says this, he clutches the string to his chest. The Hunger can’t take this away from him, no matter how hard it tries. The bond Merle has built is too strong to be severed now. When John next opens his eyes, he’s standing on a beach. He can’t remember the last time he’d been on a beach. He takes off his shoes and socks, setting them down beside him. He rolls up his pant legs, loosens his tie, and takes off his suit jacket, settling down on top of it. The sun is setting. He knows he’s dying. The Hunger will be defeated and he will vanish along with it. The planes will go back to normal and he will die. Somehow, this doesn’t frighten him. If anything, he feels sad. He’d hoped to play another game of chess with Merle, no matter how selfish the idea seems. He knows he must pay for his crimes somehow. Perhaps death is the only way he can. He feels a presence appear behind him. 

“Come sit with me, Merle.” He says, not taking his eyes off the sunset. He knows if anyone could find him, it would be Merle. 

“You got it, buddy.” The dwarf settles beside him, already looking like he’s dressed for the beach. 

“I’m going to die, Merle.” John says. 

“No, you’re not.” Merle replies about as quickly as John expects he would. Leave it to Merle to fight to the bitter end to save a doomed soul. 

“Merle, you can’t save me.” 

“I’m going to.” Then Merle grabs his arm. Before he knows what’s happening, he’s falling through a white space, surrounded by planes, Merle still holding his arm. Then everything goes black. When he opens his eyes once more, he’s surrounded by a crowd of people, none of whom he recognizes. 

“So....Why did you think it was a good idea to bring this guy back with you?” A red robed figure asks. Judging from the voice, he assumes the speaker is female, and judging from her spectral form, she’s a lich. He immediately decides he shouldn’t do anything to piss her off. Although, as he tries to move his limbs, he realizes everything is sore. Too sore to move, in fact. 

“I wasn’t about to just let him sacrifice himself like an idiot.” He hears Merle say. The dwarf steps into view, slapping John’s cheek as gently as he can, which still hurts. “You with us, John?” John makes a small, strangled groaning sound. 

“Well, he’s alive.” Merle straightens up. “Magnus, you carry him, okay?” John is hoisted up onto Magnus’ shoulders and carried away. 

 

For the first few months, John is almost too weak to move. Merle stays by his bedside for most of that time, fussing over him and telling him what a fool he was for giving up. John can’t help but smile and agree. Once he’s well enough to move, Merle drags him to meet his kids. Mookie finds this new man fascinating, especially since is John is tall enough to be a perfect jungle gym. Mavis is less eager to accept him, but she’s forced to at least trust him a little when John gets forcefully moved into Merle’s residence. He doesn’t go on adventures with Merle and kids. Instead, he makes sure Merle has a home to come back to. 

This is especially necessary when Lord Artemis Sterling puts Merle in charge of Bottlenose Beach. It’s frankly appalling how messy Mookie and Merle can make one house together. Mavis and John find common ground in their exasperation with the aforementioned members of the Highchurch clan. John is glad for that. For once in his life, he has people to care about, people who care about  _ him _ . When Carey and Killian get married, he’s seated between Mavis and Mookie, helping the dwarven girl keep her brother under control. His life isn’t nearly as long as Merle’s, but his time in the world he’d nearly destroyed is filled with more happiness than he ever had in his home plane. And when he passes, he does so peacefully, surrounded by the people who care about him. 

**The End.**

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, I wanted to save John. Everyone got a happy ending, so he deserves one too. I think knowing Merle changed him, and that because of that change, he has a place in the world they've created.


End file.
